Genre Peculiarities of Heroic Fairy Tales: Theoretical Research

The aim of the article is to analyze the existing theoretical statements about genre peculiarities of heroic fairy tales and to reveal their similarities and differences in comparison with the heroic epos. For this purpose, the author uses the texts of fairy tales of the peoples of Russia, as well as monographs and research articles. The emphasis is made on the methodology of comparative-historical and historical-typological studies of folklore genres. Structurally, the article consists of three parts. The first part explores heroic fairy tales of the peoples of Russia from the point of view of their genre variety. In particular, a brief critical analysis of the available indicators of fairy tale plots is given. The alogism of the principles of classification is noted. The author of the article refers to V.Ya. Propp’s opinion that the plot of the fairy tale is determined by the type of the antipode, i.e. it depends on with whom the main character has a battle. Propp described these principles well (though briefly) in his articles “Principles of classification of folklore genres” and “Genre composition of Russian folklore”. The second part describes characteristics that allow defining fairy tales about heroes as an epic genre. In particular, some folklorists’ opinions are analyzed about the “intermediate” position of the heroic fairy tale, between the fairy tale and the heroic epos in terms of the genre. For example, researchers of Altai, Tatar and Circassian texts adhere to such views. Researchers of the fairy tales of the peoples of Dagestan prove that both the heroic epos and the heroic fairy tale have the same motifs. In the researchers’ opinion, this is indicative of the existence of a single epic fund from which the heroic epos and the heroic fairy tale developed. However, their development went in parallel; therefore, it would be wrong to call one genre the predecessor of the other. Nevertheless, there are researchers who see heroic plots as a result of the decomposition of the epos. In any case, others argue that all these processes are indicative of the genre interactions of the heroic fairy tale and the heroic epos. The third part analyzes the heroic fairy tale at the level of the genre typology. Based on texts and theoretical approaches, the author of the article comes to the conclusion that the heroic fairy tale and the heroic epos are different autonomous genres. One can speak about the epic character of heroic fairy tales, about similarity and diffusion, but not about adequacy. Hereby, one should not “complete” the heroic epos with texts of fairy tales, stories and legends because it will not be a sample of folk art, but a literary work.

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